The World At Your Doorstep Part 8: A Kitchen On Wheels

For many the kitchen, or galley, is the most controversial area in a rental motorhome. Love it or hate it, use it or ignore it, the fact is a small kitchen will be traveling with you on your holiday.

General Comments: There is a group of travelers, we’ll call this one the “I’m not going on any holiday where I have to cook” group, who are disappointed to find kitchens of any sort in their homes on wheels. That a kitchen will actually be following along, uninvited, on their holiday seems somehow unfair.

At the other end of the range of opinion we find the “kitchen is the heart of the household” group. This group finds concern in the minimalist nature of motorhome kitchens. How, they wonder, are they to prepare adequate meals in a kitchen which seems less than fully present?

In the eyes of the anti-cooking group, the pro-cooking group appears at least a few tablespoons short of a full cup. The pro-cooking group leans towards a belief that their non-cooking counterparts are overlooking one of the most potentially pleasurable areas of a motorhome touring holiday.

Between these two extremes are found the majority of motorhome travelers – a majority that doesn’t have strong opinions, in either direction, about cooking while on holiday. They assume they will cook when it is convenient and eat out when it is not. To this group a minimalist kitchen, one which seems neither fully present nor totally absent, is as it should be.

Motorhome touring provides alternatives you don’t have on more conventional trips. Included in the range of options is the choice to eat out as much, or as little, as you like. Motorhome kitchens give you those options.

Equipping: The kitchen in your motorhome will, by most standards, be both under sized and under equipped. (Whether or not that matters is a separate question.) If you intend to use the kitchen that will be going on holiday with you, there are some things you need to find out:

Most important: Find out, in advance, what is included in your unit. Exactly what will be in your unit’s kitchen? Don’t, for example, make the mistake of showing up with the idea of baking something in the oven your first night on the road . . . not unless you are certain your unit will have an oven (it probably won’t). Will your motorhome have a stove and refrigerator? (almost certainly) A microwave? (possibly).

Just how does the traveler start with a kitchen which is both small and empty and wind up able to prepare interesting meals? We’re glad you asked! The “how” and “with what” of equipping a rental motorhome’s kitchen are the subjects of our next couple of articles.

$AVING$ TIP$

Minimize Eating Out. The more serious you are about saving money, the more likelyit is to make sense to make use of your motorhome’s kitchen. Prepare a special meal or two, each in a special place, and you can add great memories to your holiday even as you are saving money.

About Dave & Kay Corby

Dave & Kay Corby literally wrote the book on travel in a rental RV, motorhome, campervan or travel trailer: "RV Rentals: A Vacationer's Guide". Use this link for special pricing and to find out what others have had to say about their comprehensive book.